Our Shared Shelf discussion

I agree!! I was a little bit skeptical if I’m being honest, because I generally don’t like when a traditional story is modified “to fit a certain thought”. Does this make sense? 😂
But I found the Cinderella Liberator was done with respect and intelligence, cause you really don’t feel the feminist side of it prevailing on the story*, it’s just an amazing version of a timeless tale. And then, only in retrospective, and with the author comment at the end, you can catch of all the subtleties it contains.

*i don’t like when this happens cause I feel it almost goes against the cause, people can get pretexts to go against it. Cinderella Liberator is presented is such a “normal” way that you can’t disagree with. Does it make sense? Hope I was clear 🥰

I thought it was cute too, but it didn't really work for me. I prefer other fairy tale retellings (especially "Kissing the Witch" by Emma Donoghue) because I disliked Solnit's moralistic voice that disrupted the narrative. Sure, people can change, but not that fast. And even though the drawings were beautiful, they perpetuated fairy tale aesthetics, e.g. that the witch has to be ugly with a large nose and Cinderella is beautiful and thin,...

I was a bit skeptical like Corinna, but in the end I liked the book - and yes, sometimes Solnit's feminism kick in the story with quite a strong voice, but overall the narrative remains pleasant to read - especially for the target readers.

I agree with Emma, I think the sudden changes are due to the limited length of a children book!
But I actually liked the original illustrations, I feel like it is somehow a way to keep it connected to the classic fairytale and compre the two versions.

I find it really important that besides not labelling Cinderella’s stepsisters as “wicked”, Rebecca mentions that they weren’t naturally wicked, but were taught that ‘there wasn’t enough for everybody and they needed to take things from other people to have enough for themselves’.

I feel that most young readers tend to hate Cinderella’s stepsisters, as I did when I was younger, because they think that they were naturally evil. However, by telling us that they were taught to be the way they were, Rebecca also teaches young readers that evil people aren’t born evil, but are taught to be evil, and that anyone is capable of becoming as cruel as Cinderella’s stepmother if they aren’t careful, as ‘most of us have some of that hunger in our hearts’, which I think is something young children should understand.

On the other hand, Rebecca also writes about how ‘not all magic needs me (a fairy godmother)’, and that ‘Everyone can be a fairy godmother if they help someone who needs help’, which I feel is something children will take away with them after reading Cinderella Liberator.

I agree with your points, Clara. You really picked up on some key concepts here. I was most moved by Ms. Solnit’s description of what true beauty is. We all have it, and particularly for young girls, this teaching is important to development of a healthy self concept, and a way of being in the world.

Haven't read the book, Clara, but you are mirroring what I have learned about inequality in the past year or so after having watched Rebecca Saxe's talk about the neurology of hate at Harvard's Petrie-Flom Center (online). That's amazing!

I am exploring setting up a poverty therapy workgroup and might be able to use your input (and the book as well as the fairy tale) for that. Thanks!

I'm a little bit annoyed by this pick. I didn't realise it's a children's book before I bought it (because I thought this is an adult book club) and it's pointless my owning a children's book. I'm not particularly fond of children and I'm not planning on having any, and the only children I know are my brothers. He's very vocally anti-feminist, and will see this as me pushing my views onto his children. But if I don't give it to my nieces then it's a wasted book.

Just as a feminist who doesn't have much of an interest in children, I'm slightly peeved that we've been set a children's book, even one by Rebecca Solnit.

I just read it today and really really like a lot of the bits from this book.

One of them, as others have voiced here, is the definition of beauty she sets and at the same time the definition of love derived from it. I think it’s really good for children to see it and even for as an adult to read it. I deeply believe that a lot of the fairy tales or “children stories” have so much to teach regardless of the age you have. I really like how she explained how beauty is in the eye of the beholder using the step sisters as examples of what they thought was beautiful and that there was a thought process involved in their choices. 

I also really liked how she addressed the topic of trying new things without fear of later realizing you don’t like it enough and going back is fine. I particularly loved this as explained by the animal transformation. I also like how she included the ideal of older women who can want a change/more out of life once child raising is over. This idea of life chapters being completed and giving way to new experiences is very fulfilling. I like how some of the animals refused to keep the change because they loved their life as is.

I liked how she addresses very subtly self sabotage which is very common in women as exemplified by Cinderella leaving the ball.

Bits that I felt were forced into the story:
- Cinderella asking only for the lizards if they liked the change that was happening to them but not for the rats.
- The fact that for some reason she had to have a “good” set of parents. Why not just leave her orphaned? I think it would have added strength to the character if that had been the case.
- The nurturing woman depiction of her because of her rescuing children seems too pushy on the women have to be good/like children.

I found this analysis to be really informative of things I might have missed, and validating of the things I noticed but did not choose to comment about. :)

I at first didn't know what to expect before reading it - I actually never read Cinderella's story, so this morning I took some time to read both the brother Grimm's and Charles Perrault's versions. I must say I enjoyed Solnit's the most.

I think she did a great job of updating this story. The book in my opinion quite accurately reflects how times have changed - such as Cinderella emancipating, and her and the prince choosing not to marry - and with that the nuances of our morals.

I think the story also added more depth to the characters compared to other versions (although this was still limited) - I really liked how Solnit also paid attention to the animals that helped Cinderella. Though with regards to the prince I felt that his part ended a bit abruptly - perhaps a line or two extra when he tells his parents he wants to be a farmer would have solved that.

Some parts felt slightly pushed, like what Laura said with regards to the lizards and her parents. I think adding in the parents made it a bit messy: her mother is lost at sea, so her father finds a new wife and now the mother's back. That's a whole other story on its own.

There was also a part in which the importance of asking for help is emphasised and so Cinderella asks why the fairy godmother did not tell her she was free earlier. She answers that she was busy helping other children and that she lost the directions to Cinderella's house. I thought that to be a bit odd - with her being a fairy and all. Other than that, I felt she quite nicely weaved lessons into the story. Like the points Clara maid concerning the sisters and being a liberator.

To conclude, I think it's really impressive how much Solnit managed to fit in so much into such a tiny book.

I just finished this book last night and it was so refreshing to have all the unhealthy values I had to spend my life unlearning upended in such a straightforward and beautiful way. I hope future generations get the privilege of growing up on books like this from the beginning! Also, I loved the section where Solnit listed the people in town and their professions with diverse pronoun use (including they/them!!)

I really enjoyed this book. It was a simple, beautiful take on the Cinderella tale that also managed to add more depth into all of its characters and letting readers see them in a different light than they had for centuries.

I read this book yesterday, wanted to save it as a Christmas read, and enjoyed it.
I like the idea that children can have empowerment teachings, they will learn that they can do what they like most and be who they want, that we go through different seasons of/in life and we can change if we want, that we are not stuck in place.
I liked that she gave the prince a purpose outside royalty, that the two are not obligated two marry each other and that they are "not old enough to get married".
As Clara said, in regard to the stepsisters, I also liked how they distanced themselves from their mother's teachings and became their own selves.
I too have concerns in regard to Cinderella's parents, as Laura and Artisan Geek said: was it necessary to give her important parents in order to render her valuable?
Yeah, maybe it's done to boost her self esteem, but if the message is that we are all unique and valuable for who we are, and not for our parents, then, couldn't they be normal?
And, yes, their comeback it's a bit messy.

I like the book, but as others have mentioned I feel that a few parts of the book was forced. But all in all it was a good retelling.

I liked the way the sisters changed their fates and found jobs of their own, and how you don't have live up to all the expectations that others have to you. So I appreciated the book :)

I appreciated the overall lesson focusing on self-empowerment & individualism while still not knocking romantic love.

I loved how Solnit analyzed the original Cinderella's message being centered on the joy of getting a husband which naturally leaves much to be desired for in life as per self-determination & fulfillment of one's potential let alone basic autonomy.

I loved that Cinderella's shop & her presence in society in general became positive forces for the social fabric of the town; this is a much more inspiring version than the typical helpless princess fairytale & one I'll be happy to read to my future daughter one day.